A L T 



4. A. angujlifolia. Narrow-leaved Alternanthera. JBr. 

 n. 3. — Calyx externally woolly ; fegments ovate, acute, the 

 length of the caplule. Heads nearly globofe. Leaves 

 linear, very fmooth. Ste;n ereft, angular. — Found by 

 Mr. Brown, in the tropical part of New Holland. 



5. A. nana. Dwarf Alternanthera. Br. n. 4. — Calyx 

 fmooth ; fegments ovate, flightly pointed, twice the length 

 of the caplule. Leaves obovate-oblong, hairy ; tapering 



at the bafe. Stem diffufe, hairj- Found in the fame 



country as the two laft, by Mr. Browri. 



Sedl. 2. Five of the Jilaments 'u.'lth perfeSi anthers ; five 

 intermediate ones confpiciious, 'zvithout any. 



6. A. Aehyrantha. Creeping Alternanthera, (lUece- 

 brum Achyrantha ; Linn. Sp. PL 299. WiUd. Sp. PI. 

 V. I. 1208. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 2. 61. Achyrantha 

 repens, foliis bUti pallidi ; Dill. Elth. 8. t. 7. f. 7,) — Stem 

 creeping. Leaves ovate ; denfely downv when yountr. 

 CaJyx with fomewhat fpinous points. — Native of' Buenos 

 Ayres, from whence it was fent to Sherard, before the year 

 1732. We have fpecimens from the Paris garden. There 

 is reaion to doubt whether Linnzus ever faw this foecies. 

 The root is perennial. Sterns proftrate, from one to two feet 

 long, repeatedly forked, leafy, moft hairy at oppofite fides, 

 creeping by means of fibrous radicles from their lower joints. 

 Leaves llalked, from one to two inches long, entire ; nearly 

 fmooth, and of a bright green, when full-grown ; the young 

 ones covered on both fides with denfc, ftarry, hosry hairs, 

 fuch as compofe the pubefcerxe of the Jlem^ and efpecialiy 

 of the younger branches. Heads fmall, from the forks of 

 the ftem, partly ftalked, round, of but iew Jloiuers. Calyx 

 brownifli-whitc ; fegments three-ribbed, unequal, ftrongly 

 keeled, partly hair)', accompanied as it feems occafionally 

 with fmailer imoother fcales. 



7. A. polygonoides. Perficaria-leaved Alternanthera. 

 ( Illecebrum polygonoides ; Linn. Sp. PI. 300. Willd. Sp. 

 PI. V. I. 1208. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. i. 61. Herniaria 

 hirfuta repens, ad nodos alternos florida ; Browne Jam. 184. 

 Amaranthoides humile curaflavicum, foliis polygoni ; Herm. 

 Par. 17, with a figure. Sloane Jam. v. 1. 141. t. 86. f. 2. 

 A. marina hirfuta, halimi folio; Plum. Ic. 12. t. 21. f. 2.) 

 — Stem creeping, haiiy. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, taper- 

 ing at the bafe, ftalked, all fmooth. Calyx ovate, fingle- 

 ribbed, unarmed ; hairy at the bottom. — Native of South 

 America. A fmailer plant than the preceding, except the 



jloiuers ; with longer, much narrower, leavts fmooth at 

 every period of their growth, on long llalks. Calyx of a 

 brilliant white ; its fegments ovate, pointed, but not fpinous, 

 the mid-rib lefs- prominent than in ths foregoing ; the bafe 

 only befet with confpicuous hairs. Plumier's plant fcarcely 

 requires to be called a .variety. The Jlem indeed is repre- 

 fented more hair)' than it appears in our gardens, but it is 

 always more or lefs fo, and the hairs are always fimple, not 

 ftellated like thofe of ^. Achyrantha. 



8. A. jlcoidca. Ribbed Alternanthera. (Illecebrum 

 ficoideum ; Linn. Sp. PI. 300. Willd. Sp. PL v. i. 1208. 

 Gomphrena ficoidea ; Linn. Sp. PL ed. i. 225. Jacq. 

 Amer. 88. t. 60. f. 4?) — Stem creeping, fmooth. Leaves 

 ovato-lanceolate, tapering at the bafe, ftalked. Calyx lan- 

 ceolate, unarmed, three-ribbed, hairy at the back. — Native of 

 South America. Cultivated by Linnaeus at Upfal. Jacquin's 

 figure more refembles the laft, clofely according with 

 Browne's fpecim.en, which indeed Dr. Solander, who fent it 

 to LinnsEus, marked Gomphrena Jicoidea ; but the latter 

 found it to be his own Illecebrum polygonoides. The plant 

 before us, from the Upfal garden, is a truly diftinft fpecies, 

 with broader leaves, an inch and a half or two inches long, 

 roughifh w^ith callous points ; a fmooth Jlem ; and very 



ALU 



different foiucrs. Tlie fegments of the calyx wt mud- 

 narrower, brown at the bafe, with three ftrong nbe, and 

 clotlied at the back, more than half way up, with prominent 

 hairs ; their points are tapering, but not fpinous. 



Mr. Brown fpeaks of fome American nondefcript fpecies 

 referable to this lection. Whether the following be among' 

 them we know not, but they appear to be nondefcript. 



9. A. villofj. Woolly-branched Alternanthera. — Stem 

 decumbent, hairv- ; ftiagg)- at the joints. Leaves obovate, 

 ftalked, nearly fmoo>h. Calyx ovate, fingle-ribbed, fmooth. 

 —Sent to Linnaeus by ' Thouin, from the Paris garden, 

 without any mention of its native countrv'. Stems above a 

 foot long, with afcending ver); hairy branches, bent at each 

 joint. Leaves an inch or more in length, bluntifti, dotted, 

 rarely befprinkied with a few- long hairs. ' Footjlalks accom- 

 panied, above their infertion, with very denfe ftipulary tufts, 

 of long ftiaggy hairs, jointed, like all thofe on the ftem and 

 foliage. Of ib^fowers we have feen only one fmall axillarj- 

 head, apparently not come to perfeftion, but its glumes are 

 evidently unlike all the preceding, broadly ovate, even and 

 fmooth, acute but not fpinous, with a fimple mid-rib. 



10. A. echir.ata. Prickly-headed Alternanthera Stem 



proftrate, hairy. Leaves roundifh-oval, fmooth. Calyx 

 fpinous-pointed ; outer fegments lanceolate, elongated, partly 

 three-ribbed, fmooth : two inner ftiorter, gibbous, hairy at 

 the back — Gathered by Commerfon at Monte Video, and 

 fent by Thouin to the younger Linnsus. This remarkable 

 fpecies is among the largeft we have feen. The leaves 

 indeed are not above an inch long, but they are nearly as 

 much in breadtii, tapering at the bafe, their furface dotted 

 with little points, not hairy. Heads feflile, axillary, fome- 

 what aggregate, globofe or oblong, pale brown, fhining, 

 diftinguiflied by the length and fharp thorns of their three 

 outer calyx -fegments, one of which is ftrongly three-ribbed, 

 and by the tufted hairs of the two inner ones, projefting 

 very confpicuoufly between them. 



ALTMICKLIC, in Commerce, a Turkifh filver coin ^ 

 60 paras. 



ALTON, in America. Add — The town contains 1279 

 inhabitants. 



ALTUN-KUPRLor the Golden Bridge,z\own ofPerfia, 

 in the pachalic of Bagdad, about the fize of Kupri, (which 

 fee,) fituated on a fine plain, on the northern bank of the 

 Little Zab, 32 fm-fungs from Moful. 



ALUMINA, in Chemflry, an earthy fubftance, defcribed 

 as elemeiitarv, but which fir Humphrey Davy has rendered 

 probable to be a compound of a metalb'c bafis with oxygen. 

 See Aluminum infra. 



We have little to add to the defcription of alumina, 

 except the curious fact oblerved by Sauflure, that this fub- 

 ftance does not give out the peculiar earthy fmell which has 

 been confidered as charatteriftic of it, except it be mixed 

 with oxyd of iron. 



Alumix.a, Salts of, the compounds formed by the differ- 

 ent acids with alumina. By fome accident, the defcription 

 of moft of the falts of alumina has been omitted. We ftiall 

 therefore take the opportunity of introducing them here. 



Nitrate of Alumina. See NiTRATE of Alumina. 



Carbonate of Alj/mina. The exiftence of this fait has 

 been ufually admitted by chemifts. Bergman, however, 

 could not form it artificially, though he allows its exiftence, 

 becaufe when alum is mixed with an alkaline carbonate, 

 part of the alumina remains in folution till the carbonic acid 

 be driven off. Sauffure has more recently ftiewn, that water 

 faturated with carbonic acid is capable of diffolving alumina, 

 but that tliis combination is deftrovcd by fimple expofure to 

 the air. Carbonate of alumina, therefore, cannot exift in a 



dry 



